Star Wars: Alien Empire: Infestation
by Darth Paxis
Summary: The ISD Valorum is patrolling the Imperial/CSA border when it finds a derelict freighter Disclaimer: Only the original characters are mine, the rest isn't
1. Chapter 1: Discovery

**Chapter 1: Discovery**

The ISD _Valorum_ moved through space, the roar of its engines stilled by the awesome vacuum of the void. In his office, Captain Ronis Othune slouched in his chair, trying to occupy his time. Ordinarily, He would spend his time patrolling the Bridge, but ever since the _Valorum_ han been assigned to patrolling the Imperial/CSA border, he found the Bridge of his ship immeasureably boring, not that his office was much better.

Suddenly, his comlink buzzed on his desk. Othune gritted his teeth as he picked it up. If this was another routine check...

"_Captain, you're gonna want to see this._"

Othune sighed as he rose from his chair. He walked onto the bridge.

"Now what's so kriffing ur-"

Othune looked up and saw a derelict freighter outside the viewport.

"You commed me for this! Why would I want to see that." Othune said as he pointed at the freighter.

Sir, sensors are picking up unknown biosigns."

"And I had to leave my office for that. Just tractor it into the docking bay, and send a sensor crew with a squad of stormtroopers."

"Yes Sir"

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Commander Cameron LaRone watched with disinterest as the freighter was moved into the docking bay by the tractor beams. As soon as it was docked, he sent the sensor crew along with two stormtroopers, just in case. They walked up the ramp and set up the equipment. Larone could hear them from 20 meters away, along with some mild swearing as something was dropped on one of the techs feet. A few minutes later one of the troopers came back down.

"Sir, we found something."

The first thing LaRone noticed as he came up the ramp was the stench. The smell of rotting corpses was a distinctive smell, one that Larone was familiar with, it was something that you never really forgot, and he had got plenty of whiffs during the Clone Wars. the trooper directed him to a strange alien, about three meters in length, starting with a roughly banana shaped head and a body that continued into a lengthy tail that ended with a spear-like tip.

"What the-"

"That's what we said, sir."

One of the techs chose this moment to intervene. "Commander, the sensors are picking up an irregularity in the ships density."

"I don't suppose you can say that in Galactic Basic."

"Yes sir, it's a hidden cargo hold"

"Where?"

"Just starboard of the Engine Room."

Larone walked to the area the tech had specified. He saw that one of the wall panels looked different. "Remove that panel," he commanded as he pointed at it.

One of the stormtroopers romoved it, revealing a egg, about a meter in height, with flaps at the top. LaRone's understandable confusion was compounded as the flaps started to open slowly...


	2. Chapter 2: Infection

**Chapter 2: Infection**

As the egg opened, LaRone watched in mounting horror as something moved inside it. A flash of motion caught his eye, and he dived to the deck.

But it didn't matter, as the creature that leapt from the egg didn't leap at him, it leapt at the trooper.

LaRone watched as the creature wrapped a long tail around the stormtrooper's neck, trying to attach itself to his face.

LaRone started to get up, thinking that the danger had passed. After all, the trooper's helmet was doing a fine job of stopping the creature from fully hugging his head. But as LaRone was about to reassure the trooper, who was starting to freak out, the creature reared back and spat some green fluid at the trooper's helmet. The fluid immediatly started to burn through the front of the helmet. LaRone immediatly reached for the helmet, trying to remove it before the acidic substance burned through to the skin, but he was too late. The creature pushed through the pulpified mass of the helmet, firmly attaching itself to the trooper's face.

The trooper fell to the deck, his hands clawing at his face desperatly before falling still.

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LaRone immediatly rushed everyone out of the ship, the other stormtroopers carrying their fallen comrade. On LaRone's orders, they placed him on an antigrav strecher, brought by EMTs stationed near the docking bay. Larone walked with the EMTs to the Infirmary, answering their questions as they went.

"What happened?" they asked.

"There was a creature of some sorts in a hidden hold. It jumped out of an egg and attached itself to his face."

How did it get throgh the helmet?"

It spat some kind of acid at him. It got through before I could do anything"

"Okay, we'll do our best to remove it."

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Captain Othune sat at his desk, still as bored as he had been when they had found the freighter. His comlink buzzed.

"_Captain, we just recieved a report from the boarding party._"

"Well, did they find anything of interest?"

"_It depends on what you define as 'of interest' sir._"

"What do you mean"

"_Apparently a macroparasite of some kind attached itself to a stormtrooper, sir._"

"What?!?"

"_Yes ,sir. The trooper is in the Infirmary now._"

"Alert me to any changes in his condition, and quarantine the freighter until further notice."

"_Yes sir._"


	3. Chapter 3: Captain's Log

**Chapter 3: Captain's Log**

All was quiet in the docking bay, which had been evacuated as per Quarantine procedure. The only occupant was a single stormtrooper, clad in full environmental armor, whose job was to make sure nothing left the freighter sitting in the berth closest to the trooper. Nothing had happened for the past three hours, but he remained vigilant, a byproduct of his childhood training on the rain-soaked planet of Kamino.

Suddenly, a flash of movement caught the trooper's eye. Raising his rifle, he cautiously walked over to where he had seen the movement, but upon closer examination, he saw nothing out of the ordinary.

He jerked around as he heard something moving behind him, but again saw nothing. he was just about to return to his post when one of the creatures that Commander LaRone had called "facegrippers" slammed into him, wrapping it's tail around his neck. It spat acid at his helmet, but he was protected by the acid-resistant properties in his armor.

The trooper ripped the facegripper off his helmet, threw it to the ground and fired point-blank, killing the creature instantly.

As the trooper returned to his post, he failed to notice another facegripper skitter across the deck towards a ventilation grille near the bottom of the wall.

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LaRone sat in his quarters, going over the freighter captain's logs, trying to find out what had happened. He popped the first disc into his computer.

"_We've just picked up a new cargo on Coruscant. Some official wants these 'biological specimens' delivered to the Dostra system in the Corporate Sector. Unfortunatly, Jon opened one of the containers, and now has a parasite of some kind attached to his face. We put the rest of the containers in the hidden hold to prevent more of the buggers getting out. _"

Larone leaned forward in interest as he played the next log.

"_We've tried everything to get the blasted thing off Jon's face, but it won't budge. We even tried cutting it off, but it leaked acid onto the deck, damn near burned through the outer hull. Now every time we go near it, it tightens it's hold on him. Very strange. _

LaRone popped the next disc in.

"_Good news, Jon woke up. Unfortunatly, he's been eating everything he can get his hands on, at this rate we're going to have to stop over somewhere and restock. I don't kn-"  
The sound of breaking bones is heard faintly. The captain walks away.  
"What the kark! Shoot it!"  
A volley of blasterfire is heard. Several swears are heard, indicating that the crew has failed to kill their target. The captain never shuts the recorder off, and it records the crew dying one by one. Eventually, a strange hissing sound is heard, right before a stray shot hits the recorder, ending the recording _

LaRone sat back in his chiar, running a hand through his hair. He let out a long breath, and got up. He needed to inform the doctor about this. Normally he would have just commed the doctor, but he wanted to visit the infected stormtrooper, as he felt slightly responsible for the situation.

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As the infirmary doors slid open, Doctor Cole Jaxter looked up from the test results from the stormtrooper lying on the surgical table.

"Ah, Commander, come in."

"How's he doing?" LaRone asked as he entered the room.

"He's stable," Jaxter replied. "It's strange. The parasite seems to be suppling him with oxygen and keeping him alive, though I'm not sure why."

I think that I found some answers in the freighter's logs. It appears that one of t-"

Larone was inturrupted by a groan coming from the surgical rushed in to see that the stormtrooper was waking up.


	4. Chapter 4: First Encounter of the Worst

**Chapter 4: First Encounter of the Worst Kind**

Captain Othune sat in his office. He would have normally gone to his quarters by now, but ever since the incident on the freighter, he couldn't stop thinking about the idea of parasites loose on his ship. He had tried to remind himself that there was only one parasite, and that it was too busy with one stormtrooper to be wreaking havoc around the rest of the ship, but his imagination was running wild nonetheless.

He was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn't even hear his comlink at first, but the sound eventually penetrated through to his consciousness, and he was grateful for the distraction.

"Yes."

"_Sir, we're receiving a transmission from the Aparo Sector_."

"The Aparo Sector?"

"_Yes Sir. It seems to have originated from the Governor's Palace_."

Othune got up and quickly made his way to the bridge. After all, a transmission from a governor was not something you ignored if you didn't want to lose your command. As he arrived, he signaled his communications officer to start the transmission. An image of an officer, not the governor, quickly formed in front of Othune, about half size, coming up to his waist. Othune was slightly disappointed.

"_Captain Othune_?"

"Yes."

"_Colonel Wulmaw, ISB_."

At this, Othune stiffened noticeably, his disappointment quickly replaced by dread. ISB, or Imperial Security Bureau, was one of the most feared government agencies in the entire Empire. If ISB knew about the freighter…

"_I understand that you have recently found a derelict freighter along your patrol route_."

Othune's gut tightened. "Yes Sir."

"_I also understand that one of your stormtroopers is suffering from a macroparasitic infection_."

"Yes Sir."

"_What is his condition_?"

"I've been informed that he is recovering already. However, his commander believes that he has an embryo of some sort inside him and that we need to do surgery immediately."

"_Listen carefully. I want you to place the trooper in a detention cell, and keep him under constant surveillance. There will not be any surgery_."

"But Sir, if the doctor can remove the embryo, then…"

"_If you question my orders again Captain, then you will not live to regret it. Understood_."

Othune winced. "Yes Sir, sorry Sir."

"_Very well. Wulmaw out_."

As Wulmaw's image disappeared, Othune sighed and was immensely glad that that conversation was over. He walked back to his office, wondering how ISB had gotten in the loop so quickly. Obviously, there was a spy aboard the ship, although Othune had always dismissed the rumors about ISB moles on Imperial ships as well, rumors.

Well, there was nothing to do about it now, but Othune made a mental note to start a discreet investigation after this whole mess was over.

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As Colonel Wulmaw ended the transmission, he opened another link to the Valorum, directed at the crew quarters. He encrypted it, to help prevent discovery by the bridge crew, and sent it. A few seconds later, the image of the ISB agent on the Valorum appeared.

"_Yes_."

"The infected trooper is being moved to the detention level. I want you to make sure that the detention level is deserted for the time being."

"_Yes Sir_."

"Oh, and eliminate Othune. I shudder at the thought of an incompetent like him in command of a Star Destroyer."

"_It will be done_."

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Jaxter was tending to the trooper, when his comlink went off in his office. He excused himself and went over to answer it.

"Yes."

"_Doctor_?"

"Yes Captain."

"_How is your patient_?"

Jaxter looked over at the trooper. "He seems fine, Sir. Very hungry, though."

"_Listen carefully. I want you to transfer him to the detention level immediately_."

"Sir?"

"_Immediately, Doctor. Do I make myself clear_?"

"With respect, Sir, I can't perform surgery effectively in a detention cell."

"_Then you should be glad that you don't have to_."

The comlink shut off before Jaxter could respond. He returned to the trooper.

"What was that all about?" the trooper asked.

Get your stuff together. You're being moved."

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LaRone walked into the infirmary, only to see it deserted. He walked over to a med droid standing in the corner.

"Where's Doctor Jaxter?" he asked.

"On the Detention level."

"What! Why?"

"He was moving the patient there."

LaRone was out of the infirmary before the droid could finish. He sprinted to the turbolift, causing several odd stares to be directed at him. Just as he was about to reach it, he saw Jaxter coming out of it. He stopped.

"Damn it, Cole, what the hell's going on!"

"Captain's orders, Cam."

"What?"

"He commed me and told me to move him down there."

"Is he all right?"

"Other than the fact that he's constantly and obsessively hungry, yeah, he's fine."

"What about the surgery? We need to get that thing out of him before it does it for us."

"I know, but the captain said no."

"Othune's not that stupid."

"Well, from the way he sounded, it wasn't entirely his idea."

LaRone thought about this for a second, before coming to a conclusion.

"ISB?"

"Probably, but it wouldn't be good for them to hear you talking about them."

"I suppose, but we still need to do something about this."

"I suppose the captain didn't institute a no visitors policy."

LaRone and Jaxter both headed for the turbolift.

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Using his security code, the ISB agent entered the security network and clicked on the Detention subroutine. The screen looked like this:

Detention:  
1. Door locks  
2. Communications/Surveillance  
3. Suppression

Back

The agent first clicked on the second option:

Communications/Surveillance:  
1. View Cameras 1-15  
2. View Cameras 16-30  
3. Pipe Audio to User Computer  
4. Block Communications  
Back

The agent clicked on the fourth option, then clicked Back. He then entered the Suppression subroutine.

Suppression:  
1. Turrets  
2. Nerve Gas

The agent clicked on the Nerve Gas option, and then selected a gas that affected humans only, and ordered instant deployment on the detention level. The computer showed a warning, but he quickly dismissed it.

Deploying…

The agent logged out and sat back, imagining that he could hear the hiss of the gas being distributed.

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LaRone and Jaxter got in the turbolift, and Jaxter pressed the button for the detention level. They endured the trip in silence, staring ahead at the bulkhead. As the doors opened, LaRone was disturbed that there didn't seem to be anyone on duty. He looked at Jaxter.

"They were just here," Jaxter said.

The next thing that LaRone felt was a sense of intense drowsiness, and he collapsed to the floor. Jaxter quickly followed in suit.

Meanwhile, in one of the cells, the infected trooper was writhing on the floor. He felt like he was being consumed by hunger. Suddenly, he felt something ram hard against the inside of his ribcage. He went rigid with pain as his chest exploded in a burst of blood and gore. The trooper looked down and saw a small creature, similar to the larger one that the boarding party had discovered on the freighter. He groaned and then lay back as the creature wormed its way out of his body.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: **

The chestburster twisted its head around, scoping out the environment that it had violently emerged into. Sensing no immediate danger, it removed itself from the body that had housed it, making a sickening sound caused by the remains of its victim's internal organs as they were pushed aside by the chestburster's limbs.

As the last segments of its tail slithered out, the chestburster started searching for a way out of the cell. It looked around, seeing only a small ventilation grille near the ceiling, and of course, the door. It couldn't reach the grille, but the door looked more promising. It shifted up to the door, but it stayed resolutely shut.

The ISB agent watched as the chestburster moved around the cell through the security camera in the detention cell. He could let the thing out of course, but his orders were to assess the creature's capabilities, and this seemed to be as good a test as any. Instead of finding a way out, however, it instead chose to return to the corpse that had birthed it, and started eating. The agent looked on in interest and a slight bit of disgust as the chestburster started using a set of inner jaws to punch holes in the corpse's skull and sucking out the contents.

Suddenly a loud noise sounded from above him. He pulled out his blaster and looked around to see what had caused it. Seeing nothing, he turned back to the computer screen where the chestburster was still eating. Something looked off, though and it only took a few seconds for the agent to figure it out.

The creature was growing.

It didn't seem possible but the creature was getting bigger. It hadn't grown much in the few seconds that the agent had looked away, but as he looked closer, he could see the thing getting bigger every second.

Then he heard another noise, a quieter noise, almost as something was moving across the ceiling. At first he didn't notice it, due to the sight before his eyes, but he took notice as he heard a sizzling sound coming from behind him. He spun around only seeing a dark shape fall from the ceiling. He quickly fired a shot at it, but he missed, blasting a chunk out of the wall. He looked down, and saw a long serpentine tail vanish under his bed. His mind became clouded with disbelief and fear, but changed to satisfaction as he realized that this made things a lot easier for him. He had been planning to sneak on board the freighter so that he could capture one of the macroparasites, and one of them had been kind enough to come to him. Unfortunately, he did not have all the necessary safety equipment, but he had managed to procure a large acid-proof container to keep it in. All he had to do was find it without taking his eyes off the bed.

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Captain Othune stood on the bridge. He had been doing so ever since his encounter with Colonel Wulmaw; it was really amazing how fear could shake a man out of complacency. He was staring into the empty void ahead, when something occurred to him. He turned to his security officer.

"Has there been any update from the detention level?"

"No, sir."

Othune turned back to the window. "Send a detachment to investigate." he ordered.

"Yes sir."

Othune started pacing the bridge, while the back of his mind worried about what to do with the ISB agent still onboard.

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As Captain Othune was thinking about him on the bridge, the agent felt his hand come into contact with the rim of the container. He quickly moved it so that it was in front of him, and took the lid off. He then approached the bed, and making sure that his blaster was set to low power, he crouched down and fired.

A flash of motion caught his eye, and he turned to the left just as the parasite leaped at him. He brought the container up and was relieved to hear the creature smack it on. He locked the container, and stood back as the container rattled with into the bottom of it. He dropped his blaster and grabbed the lid and stuck the creature's attempts to get out. Satisfied that the situation was safe, he turned back to the monitor and sat down. The creature, which based on its characteristics the agent had decided was a xenomorph, was still feasting on its host's corpse. The xenomorph had already eaten most of the body, and was now about half the size of the xenomorph on the freighter. Suddenly, the xenomorph snapped its head around, looking at the door that had frustrated its efforts to escape. The agent quickly called up one of the corridor cams, and saw a group of stormtroopers walk past the door.

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Larone woke up to the sight of a stormtrooper staring right at him. He shakily got to his feet. "What happened?" he inquired.

"Apparently, somebody unleashed some kind of fast acting nerve gas on this level. We already found the detention crew, they seem fine."

LaRone turned to Jaxter, and he could tell that they were thinking the same thing. ISB.  
Suddenly, the sound of blaster fire penetrated the silence. Everyone raced down the corridor, until they came to four stormtroopers.

"We opened the door to check on him and it just leaped out."

"What just leaped out?"

"I don't know, sir. It was too fast, I didn't get a good look at it."

LaRone nodded as he looked into the cell. He was immediately sickened by what he saw. The trooper was completely dismembered. There were gaping holes in his skull, and most of his flesh looked like it had been eaten. There was blood everywhere, staining the walls and floor of the cell. It was all he could do just to not vomit. He had seen some terrible things in the Clone Wars, but nothing came close to this.

"Where did it go?"

The stormtrooper pointed down the corridor. "That way sir." he replied.

LaRone hurried down the corridor. He turned the corner and saw a long tail slithering down a vent near the floor. It vanished as he got closer, and as he approached he saw a gaping hole in the grille. He heard the sound of footsteps behind him.

"Where does this go?" he asked.

"It looks like a garbage disposal vent, sir."

"Stang." Then LaRone smiled. "When is the next garbage dump?"

"Not for several hours, sir."

"Contact Maintenance, tell them to move up their schedule. And alert the captain."

"Yes, sir."

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"Sir, I'm receiving an update from the detention level."

Othune turned around, and walked over to the security officer. "Yes."

After a lengthy pause, Othune began to grow impatient. "Well, what is it."

"Sir, apparently the trooper is dead, and the parasite has escaped into the garbage disposal system. Commander LaRone reports that Maintenance has been informed and they are requesting to move up the dumping schedule."

Othune thought for a second before answering.

"Tell them to stand by."

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The xenomorph landed on a pile of discarded trash that rose about three meters from a lake of filth that covered the floor of the compactor. It got up and started investigating its new environment. It moved to the base of the pile and looked around. A quiet splash caught its attention and the xenomorph snapped its head towards the sound. It hissed quietly, extending its inner jaws. Seeing nothing, the xenomorph cautiously edged into the water. It swam to the bottom, looking for anything of interest. However, it failed to notice the large creature slowly following it.


	6. Chapter 6: The Fight for Trash

**Chapter 6: The Fight for Trash Compactor 9375831**

The dianoga watched the strange creature that had invaded its domain. It had never seen anything quite like this before, but that wasn't saying much, as there weren't very many visitors to this area of the ship except for the occasional parasite.  
Its single eye followed the xenomorph's every movement, its primitive brain trying to decide if the xenomorph was a credible threat or just the next meal.

The xenomorph surfaced, and the dianoga followed suit, raising its eye above the surface to keep observing. The xenomorph started digging through the pile, stopping when it came to a discarded foodstuff thrown out by the detention guards. It cautiously sniffed it before greedily devouring it.

The dianoga decided that this creature was no real threat and began quietly advancing, submerging its eye to preserve the element of surprise. As it neared the pile, it quickly wrapped a tentacle around the xenomorph, dragging it back beneath the surface.

The xenomorph thrashed wildly as it was pulled under, its screams muted by the water. It scratched at the tentacle, trying to escape from the dianoga's deadly grip. At first, its efforts proved futile, until it managed to whip its tail around, striking the dianoga in the eye.

The dianoga roared, releasing the xenomorph in its agony. The xenomorph swam to the surface, jumping onto the largest pile it could find. It now searched for any sign of the creature that had had attacked it. After a few long minutes, its efforts were rewarded with a trail of small bubbles heading slowly towards it. The xenomorph waited until the bubbles got closer, then it pounced.

As the xenomorph dove beneath the surface, it came into brutal contact with the dianoga. The xenomorph quickly latched onto one of the dianoga's tentacles. It bit into it, ripping out a large chunk of the dianoga's flesh. The dianoga screamed, as its blood filled the area around it, clouding the water around it. The dianoga thrashed wildly, smashing its other tentacles into the xenomorph. Despite this, the xenomorph managed to hold on, and ripped another large chunk of flesh from the dianoga's side.

The dianoga spasmed with such force that the xenomorph was thrown across the compactor, smashing against the wall with sickening force. The xenomorph quickly twisted around, trying to regain its footing, but before it could get up, the dianoga smashed into it, attacking with frenzy brought on by its injuries. It managed to grab hold of the xenomorph's tail, and brought it into its maw, snapping down decisively on the appendage. The dianoga quickly realized that this was not a good idea, as the acid spurting from the xenomorph's severed tail quickly dissolved much of the dianoga's mouth.

The xenomorph however, roared with rage at the pain of losing part of its tail, and started swinging the shortened appendage about fiercely, flinging acid around the compactor. Most of it landed on the walls and door, but a small part landed in the most advantageous spot for the xenomorph, the dianoga's eye.

The dianoga, now blinded, realized that perhaps retreat was the best option given the circumstances, but as it started to move away, the xenomorph pressed its advantage, once again leaping onto the dianoga, ripping chunks out of it with a ferocious speed that was matched only by the speed by which it swallowed them. Within a matter of seconds, the dianoga was reduced to a sagging pile of flesh, and even that didn't last long.

The xenomorph, now approaching full size (minus the loss of part of its tail), circled around the compactor searching for a way out. It stopped at the door, which had become massively corroded due to the acidic blood that had hit it. It ran back, and then charged at the door, managing to slightly dent it. It repeated this motion for several minutes, until finally, the door gave way, and the xenomorph quickly bounded into the bowels of the star destroyer, driven by the same directive that have guided its species for millennia, propagate the species.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Ensign Elijah Ralek rushed down the corridor, trying to catch the turbolift before the doors closed. Unfortunately, he failed, and was forced to stop before he slammed into the doors. He sighed, and debated on whether he should wait for the turbolift to return or try to catch another one nearby.

Suddenly, a flash of movement caught the corner of his eye. He turned towards it but there was nothing there. He turned back to the turbolift, but then he heard a hissing sound coming from behind him. He spun around and saw a creature standing behind him. It was about two and a half meters long, although it seemed to be missing a large segment of its tail. The creature suddenly leaped forward, but Ralek ducked at the last second. The creature slammed into the turbolift doors, falling to the deck with a loud screech. Ralek backed away and pulled out his hold-out blaster. The creature leapt at him again, just as Ralek was aiming. This time it hit him square in the chest, landing on top of him. Ralek squirmed, trying to get free, but the creature was too heavy. The creature opened its jaws, revealing a second set inside its mouth.

Just as the creature was about to strike, Ralek's foot managed to catch on one of the creature's legs, causing it to lose its balance, allowing him to push it off just as its secondary jaws pistoned toward him stopping just short of his face. Ralek saw his blaster lying on the deckplate a few feet to the left. He quickly grabbed it and aimed at the creature, which was preparing to once again charge at him. He fired, but his aim was slightly off, and instead of directly blasting the creature, the blast went to the right, grazing the creature, and the creature stopped, staring at him, despite its apparent lack of eyes. This only lasted for an instant, as the creature turned around and bolted down the corridor, quickly disappearing at the nearest intersection. Ralek considered giving chase, but decided not to as he had little chance of actually catching it on foot. Instead he went to the nearest com panel.

Othune paced across the bridge, trying to come to a conclusion as to what the next course of action should be. If he was right and ISB had a vested interest in the creature, then he could be punished severely, but allowing such a creature free reign of his ship would get him in trouble with the admiralty, which could ruin his career. Eventually, he stopped.

"Tell maintenance to go ahead with the schedule change," he ordered

The security officer went to a com panel. After a few seconds he returned.

"Maintenance reports a breach in one of the compactors, sir. Also, a report just came in from and Ensign Ralek, apparently he had an encounter with an unknown creature."

"Where?"

"Deck 23 sir."

"Seal off that deck and send in a squad of stormtroopers. It's time we are rid of this menace once and for all." Othune ordered. "Tell them to contact me when they have results, I'll be in my office."

Very good, Sir.

The ISB agent flicked through different security camera feeds searching for the xenomorph. Suddenly a flashing light alerted him to the fact that he was being contacted by his superiors. He quickly moved over to the receiver and activated it. The image of Colonel Wulmaw appeared.

"Report"

The xenomorph has emerged, for lack of a better term. It escaped through the trash compactor system, but unfortunately it seems to have disappeared for the time being. Also, another one of the facehugger forms has managed to find its way into my quarters, I managed to capture it though."

"Good work. And your other task?"

"I am considering using my new asset to that purpose sir"

"Very well. Make sure you do so quickly, and find the first, what was it, a xenomorph you said, and keep track of it, I want to know it's every movement."

"Yes Sir."

The image of Wulmaw disappeared, and as it did, the agent stood up, picked up the container and left.

Othune sat down in his chair, staring at the ceiling. He was starting to get a little overwhelmed with all this, and was hoping that it would all be over quickly. He was startled by the door chime activating.  
"Come in," he said.

The door opened, revealing a man of average height and weight. He was carrying a container.

"What's this about?" Othune asked.

The man looked at the container before setting it down on Othune's desk. "Oh this, I was told to give this to you. It's from somebody down on Deck 37, they said it was about something that happened way back on some world, can't remember it for the life of me, but they said that you would understand."

"Ok then." Othune didn't remember that he knew anyone from his past experiences on the ship, but Star Destroyers were big after all. "Thank you."

"Oh, it was no trouble of all." The man got up to leave. "Have a good day Captain."

The man left, and Othune stared at the container. He opened it and stared at the contents.

"What the-"was the last thing he said before the facehugger leapt out and attached itself to his face.

The creature paused in the corridor. It had sensed that another of its kind was on this vessel, in this section, but it had moved for whatever reason, so the creature was pausing to get its bearings. It looked around some more and decided to travel upwards. Unfortunately it could hear that this was a heavily populated section of the ship, and if all of those people had weapons, it would make getting to its brethren problematic. It looked up again and noticed a ventilation grille directly above. It leaped up and grabbed onto the grille. The grille, unused to handling such weight promptly came out, fortunately, it was hinged, and so the creature was able to climb into the ventilation shaft with ease, shutting the grille to avoid suspicion. Just as it vanished, the agent appeared in the corridor and promptly vanished into his quarters.

The creature moved quickly through the vent shaft, and within minutes it was able to reach its goal. It looked down to see Othune slumped in his chair with the creature's objective on its face. The creature opened the grille, and reached down, but unfortunately, it was unable to reach Othune. It jumped down and grabbed Othune, delicately so as not to disturb the facehugger, and slung him up against its back spines. It then jumped back up to the grille, but was having a tough time getting through until it grabbed Othune and put him through first, then followed, again shutting the grille behind it.

The agent was watching Othune's office via security camera, to keep tabs on him, and was surprised to see the creature that had eluded him jump down into the office and remove Othune. He wondered how it had found him, but couldn't come up with a reason as to why it had. As the creature retreated back into the vent, he made a mental note to watch cameras that were near vent grilles, so that he would be able to keep track of the creature.

The security officer listened as the stormtrooper squad reported that they had not seen the creature anywhere on Deck 23 so far. He proceeded to Othune's office to tell him the bad news, but then thought better of it. After all this was sure to put Othune in a foul mood, and those never turned out well. He went back to the com panel, raised the squad and told them to recheck the entire deck. Best to be sure after all.


End file.
